Bhagwad Gita - Post 34

Verse 65

Prasaade sarvaduhkhaanaam

Haanir asyopajaayate;

Prasannachetaso hyaashu

Buddhih paryavatishthate.

In that peace all pains are destroyed,

for the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady.

Lord Krishna now explains that when the mind is placid and pure, it has enacted for itself the cessation of all miseries arising from conjunction with prakriti materialism.

Prasanna-chetah refers to that delightful one whose mind is expunged of all impediments that hinders it from realizing the eternal soul while bestowing the spiritual intelligence needed for illumination. Thus, when the mind has been purified, all sorrow is terminated.

When one strives for pleasure, he undergoes lot of pain / lot of struggle for getting that pleasure, when he gets it, there is a pain / fear of losing it, when he actually loses it, then it is again lot of pain.

And, if he does not get at all in the first instance, there is pain from the very beginning.

Non-attachment is the key by which we can dilute the harmful effects of desire and hatred and we can escape from vicious cycle towards destruction of mind.

Just this awareness, the discrimination, the understanding in mind that I am unattached with outer world, I am in control of the self or supreme self, I am with ‘him’, can lower the power of the overpowered senses, it can eliminate desire and hatred and then even though we interact with the senses, we attain peace.

In peace, all sorrows are withdrawn from oneself. And mind becomes clear. He who is clear minded, intelligence immediately becomes steady.

Verse 66

Naasti buddhir ayuktasya

Na chaayuktasya bhaavanaa;

Na chaabhaavayatah shaantir

Ashaantasya kutah sukham.

There is no knowledge of the Self to the unsteady,

and to the unsteady no meditation is possible;

and to the un-meditative there can be no peace;

and to the man who has no peace,

how can there be happiness?

Lord Krishna now reveals the controlling of the senses as a means of attaining spiritual intelligence in a converse way. The Lord states that one with an uncontrolled mind can never possess spiritual intelligence even if well versed in the Vedic scriptures and is taught by a Realized master.

Why is this true? Because with an uncontrolled mind it is not possible to have spiritual intelligence, without spiritual intelligence one cannot meditate and without meditation it is not possible to realize the Ultimate Truth. 

So, one who has an uncontrolled mind is bereft of this, for one who cannot meditate, who is unable to enlighten themselves within there is no peace and where there is no peace, how can there be happiness?

There are various manifestations of a mind which is uncontrolled like Anger, Greed, Envy, Worldly ambition etc. They are all different but when one transcends all these, the peace experienced is the same

Shanti or peace refers also to liberation. Shanti, moksha or liberation and nirvana all have a similar meaning denoting termination of the samsara or worldly existence.

Swami says,

"Once a man is free from undue attachment to the body and its appurtenances (things attached to "the body"), he is liberated also from the pulls of joy / grief / bad / pleasures / pain etc. He is firmly established in equanimity, fortitude and undisturbed balance" - (Message of the Lord).

Love.